A handy multifunctional contraption for camping, 4x4ing and overlanding, the RT700 Traction Crate from Colorado’s Rock Tamers looks simply at first to be a new milk crate design complete with flip-open lid. It’s rugged, capable of carrying just over 35 liters of gear, ready to work as a makeshift seat, and designed to stack up into a handy table for camp or garage. But its name betrays a critical second function, which is to provide the type of tire-biting traction that can rescue you from one of the more frustrating debacles of off-road travel.
We’ve seen a surge in multitool launches in recent weeks, but the Traction Crate is a very different type of multitool we would have never expected to see. Nevertheless, it’s the type of multitool we can really get behind.
The milk crate is a rather under-appreciated storage solution when it comes to camping and the outdoors. It’s cheap, sturdy, capable of holding a good amount of gear or tools, and ready to stack and store quite neatly thanks to vertical sides and a nesting design. The smaller square ones also fit a 20-lb propane tank neatly, making it a little easier to carry and much easier to stand up stably in a vehicle.
It’s true, the milk crate isn’t at all waterproof and doesn’t generally have a lid unless you find a specially made one separately, but they’re still a great way of hauling things that can get wet and dusty without causing a problem.
CC Weiss/New Atlas
Rock Tamers, an off-road accessory and recovery specialist, has developed what’s arguably a better milk crate. Its version features a hinged lid and rubber latches that secure it closed, ensuring nothing flies out on a particularly big bump in the road. It even has corner holes to lock it up.
Additionally, the Traction Crate packs in two dividers that let you separate and organize contents, something we’ve always found quite useful when packing all types and sizes of camping gear. Better yet, those dividers pull out and double as flat tops for the crate, turning it into a makeshift workstation or seat (without leaving the milk crate imprint on your skin afterward).
CC Weiss/New Atlas
The Traction Crate even includes two integrated bottle openers and ruler markings for grabbing quick measurements. But those aren’t what make it a valuable multitool. Its most valuable function is revealed once you pull it apart into two hinged traction boards.
Like any set of traction boards, this Rock Tamer’s pair is at the ready should you find your vehicle wheels spinning helplessly in deep mud, sand, snow or other slippery, tire-immobilizing surfaces. Wedge them close to the tire’s contact patch, and the grated surface helps give the tire the traction it needs to crawl out and unstuck the vehicle. The dividers double as shovels for digging the tires out, though you’d certainly be better off carrying a dedicated shovel.
CC Weiss/New Atlas
It’s a road we’ve been down before and would rather not travel again, which is why we recognize the potential of this unconventional multitool format. Feeling the wheels of your multi-ton vehicle spin helplessly in place doing little more than gently rocking all that mass from side to side will make your heart dive deep into your nethers. That’s doubly true when it’s dusk and you have to spend the night inside the stuck mini-camper van just knowing an early morning of fruitless digging and concentrated torquing awaits. Suddenly, your escape-mobile is more of a steel cage – and that’s a bad night of sleep.
In our case, we ultimately had to call a local recovery service to come winch us out – but not before two hours spent digging with the only tools we had: a small trowel and gathered sticks, and not before feeding both floor mats to front drive tires that devoured them and spit out the burnt, ragged bones. In theory, floor mats can give you that burst of traction you need to get unstuck – not in this case.
Luckily, we were not that far down the dirt road so the recovery didn’t cost nearly as much as we’d feared. Still, getting ourselves out via some traction boards would have saved on money, frustration and the embarrassment that accompanies getting stuck less than a mile from the highway. And having those boards built into a crate we had packed with additional recovery gear or camping supplies seems a good way of ensuring they were on hand in a camper we were renting for the week.
Rock Tamers
Truth be told, Rock Tamers’ milk crate-like honeycomb tread doesn’t look like it will offer the same grip as the spiky protrusions on market leaders like the Maxtrax MKII or ARB Tred Pro. We’re also not confident the hinged design will be as durable as a single-piece board. That’s just our initial thoughts in looking at them, though, and since the Traction Crate is still relatively new to market, we’re not seeing much in the way of hard reviews about how the boards actually work for freeing stuck tires (the #1 most important consideration when buying traction gizmos).
CC Weiss/New Atlas
The real edge the RT700 crate does bring to the traction board space is in disappearing away and serving a separate purpose instead of just taking up extra space. Even if you’re out pushing the limits of your Ford Bronco every weekend, traction boards will spend far more time sitting idly and taking up space than actively getting you out of trouble.
Some people might love the rugged “overlanding” look that comes from wearing their immaculately clean, bright-orange traction boards on the side of their Wrangler or Tacoma bed rack for all to see, but others are just doing that to get them out of the way where they won’t interfere with other cargo. They tend to be large and aggressively spiked – not something you necessarily want right next to all the camping gear you’re actively loading in and out of the pickup bed or trunk. Double that sentiment for those who pack two pairs so they have one board per 4×4 drive wheel.
If you use the Traction Crate to replace a milk crate or box you were already using to store cargo, it doesn’t take up any extra room at all. And it stores and stacks more neatly than many cargo carry solutions, possibly saving space overall.
Rock Tamers
Rock Tamers introduced the RT700 Traction Crate about a year ago and showed it at SEMA before bringing it along on this year’s Overland Expo circuit, where we got a look at it in Colorado. It retails for $350 – exceptionally expensive for a milk crate but in line with some of the more expensive, top-rated traction boards.
Is the crate’s multipurpose functionality worth the spend? That’s ultimately up to the buyer, but we’d feel better about it if they lowered the price closer to the ~$150 range of existing off-brand traction boards – say, $200 or $250 in recognition of the extra value the crate brings in features. As much as we like a good, perfectly square cargo box for camping, we’d have trouble justifying spending $350 on these over the $280 to $360 board options offered by Maxtrax and ARB.
On the other hand, if the hands-on recovery reviews come back glowing, we might change our tune. It’s a clever product, but it’s of little value if it doesn’t perform when it counts.
Source: Rock Tamers
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